3 Biggest Misconceptions Couples Have When Choosing a Wedding Venue in Malta

Choosing the right venue for your destination wedding is one of the first and most important decisions you’ll make in your wedding planning process. After
all, one of the reasons you decided to get married abroad is a beautiful setting, so let’s make sure you get started off with the planning right!

Most couples are looking for privacy, beautiful views of the sea, or nature and relaxed, elegant ambience. These priorities are excellent if you set
you heart on Malta for your wedding destination – you will find dozens of wedding venues that will check off all of these boxes.

However, we have been encountering few often misconceptions that some couples have when researching Malta wedding venues. Here are 3 of the most common ones:

CEREMONY IN MALTA AND WEDDING RECEPTION IN GOZO

Gozo is one of 3 Maltese islands, and definitely a beautiful place to visit during your stay in Malta. Many couples would like to combine their wedding
ceremony in Malta with a reception in Gozo, thinking this will enhance their wedding experience and impress their guests. Here is why we think this
is a no-go for your wedding;
• Distance – even though it takes only 10 minutes by ferry to get from Malta to Gozo, your traveling on the day will be much longer. Most ceremony
venues in Malta (at least the popular ones) are 30-40 minute drives from the Gozoz ferry point in the northern part of the island. Furthermore, once
you get off the ferry there is an additional 15 minute drive to get to any reception venue. This means all together almost 1.5 hours. Travel can be
even longer in summer months when ferry lines are packed with tourists. If you or your guests miss a ferry you will need more then 2 hours of traveling
and you can just imagine the chaos this would create as it might delay the starting time of your reception, too. You wedding timeline is one of the
most important aspects that will make or break your wedding day (link to other article -5 things that will make or break your wedding day).
• Comfort – The hassle of traveling with coach to ferry, then getting on the ferry with dozens of tourists, then getting on the bus again won’t make
any of your guests happy, especially in summer months when you can expect hot and humid weather. If you would like to describe your wedding as fun
for everyone, traveling from one island to another on the day is definitely not a way to go.
• Accommodations – You might think that you can easily combine two Malta islands as your wedding venue and minimize hassle for yourself and guests
by arranging accommodations for everyone on the wedding night in Gozo, otherwise they would need to go back with the ferry and experience another 1.5-2
hours traveling back to their hotel after the wedding. The challenge with this idea is that Gozo doesn’t have as many hotels to choose from,and your
guests might stay in Villas, where most of them will ask for a minimum of a 3 day stay, and there is not much your guests can do and see in Gozo.

LONG OUTDOOR AFTER PARTY AT SEA VIEW VENUE

When planning to get married abroad it makes sense to wish for a longer party following dinner, after all you and your guests travelled long distances
and you want your wedding to last as long as possible. As a general rule for any wedding of 50-150 guests, you will need 8 hours from the start of
the ceremony time. Here is why an after party might be a problem if you’re looking for a sea views venue in Malta:
• Music restriction – By law in Malta, outdoor music has to be lowered down to background level after 11 PM. At the same time most sea view venues
are either part of big hotel resorts or located in residential areas. This can be a deal breaker for you, but if you are still keen on a sea view venue
and long party, there are few ways around this. Get in touch today and schedule your free consults here. (link to consults page)
• Starting time for reception – You might come to the conclusion that starting your ceremony earlier will help, but there are a few challenges with
this, too. The first challenge is weather; if you’re getting married in the summer months June, July or August, starting your ceremony before 5 PM
is going to be very uncomfortable for you and your guests. The other challenge is that some of the most popular sea view venues in Malta,adjoining
hotel resorts or hotel beaches, you won’t be allowed to start before 7 or 7:30 PM. We have found a few tricks and ideas how to go around this, too,
so don’t completely lose your hope.  Check out our venue discovery, learn more about each venue, and get your free consults.

BEACH WEDDING

The most common misconception is definitely about having a beach wedding in Malta. It’s very important to do proper research and keep these facts in mind:
• Most beaches in Malta are public (there are only 3 that can be privatized), and this means that even after you get a licence from the local council
you won’t have exclusive use of the whole beach, which means there will still be people around swimming and sun bathing.
• Backup option – Regardless of your wedding date you still need to have suitable backup in case of bad weather. If you book a beach that belongs
to a hotel or restaurant, make sure they offer a backup option in a case of weather conflicts.
• Legalising your wedding ceremony – If your ceremony takes place on the beach you will want to make sure that your beach venue is approved by public
registry in Malta. This is very important to keep in mind; if it rains on your wedding day and the backup option you booked is not at same location,
you won’t be able to move your ceremony somewhere else since the public registry only allows for a change of ceremony location at least 6 weeks before
your wedding date.

About the Author

Martina Selvagi is a wedding planner and founder of Wed Our Way. After facing all challenges of planning destination wedding in Malta she was inspired to make the wedding planning process easier and more flexible for future couples. Martina's passion is planning custom, worry-free weddings, giving couples a flexible planning experience that doesn't limit them in choices, but instead gives them more options and control over their wedding.

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Dear Martina, Brian and I have arrived back from our honeymoon, and we wanted to take moment to express our sincere THANKS for all the hard work you did making our wedding day and week in Malta ab.. - Gabriela & Brian White, 11-Oct-2012